LAW

Unfortunately, the public discussion about intelligence activity would only be resumed in
December, 1997, when the Executive branch finally submitted the new Law Project 3,651

The Law Project went through a long period of negotiations in the Camara dos Deputados,
where four amendments to it were presented. In January, 1999, the project was sent to the Senate.
At the Senate, the was first analyzed by the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee, and
later delivered to the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, where it was again
submitted to amendments. As it had undergone some modification at the Senate, the bill then
returned to the Camara dos Deputados to be approved. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
sanctioned it as Public Law no. 9,883 on December 7, 1999. Henceforth, SSI no longer existed and
ABIN was instituted as a direct assistant agency of the Presidency.

If we consider that the debate that led to the creation of SISBIN had been going on for
almost a decade, the general character of the regulations about the Brazilian intelligence system
makes them very unsatisfactory, for a number of reasons.

First, it is not clear what is understood by ‘components of the system’, for the current
definition can encompass agencies from the National Education Council, at the federal level, to the
Research Sponsor Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro, at the state level, to the intelligence
sections of any Army battallion or even the polices of the country’s many states. It also does not
give any information as to what authorities SISBIN is subordinated to; it does not make clear to
whom SISBIN should be accountable; and it does not regulate the kinds of coordination that can be
exercised over its members. It is not clear whether ABIN will have operational control (OPCON)
over those members or will just coordinate them. The law simply institutes SISBIN, charging it with
the responsibility to respect the Federal Constitution. This is obviously problematic from an
institutional point of view

Secondly, the legal definitions of intelligence and counterintelligence are also problematic.
Their lack of precision virtually implies a search for omniscience in running governmental affairs.
According to law no. 9,883, all “facts and situations that can bear an immediate of potential
influence on the government’s decision-making process or on the protection and security of the state
and society” are of interest to the Brazilian intelligence system.